Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, Kevin - who has worked on a host of stars such as Rihanna, Harry Styles and James Arthur -said: ''Ed is amazing for taking the pain. For a little geeky ginger kid - which was what he was like when I first met him - he used to take seven or eight hours at a time, he was proper hardcore he would proper go for it. Nowadays I probably do three or four hours on him at a time. The last time I did a tattoo on him he fell asleep, he was proper snoring, he fell asleep for about 20 minutes!''

Kevin has been working on a collage of tattoos on Ed's chest, which relate to his loved ones and the songs from his upcoming album, and he is certain it will divide opinion, just like the large lion tattoo he etched onto Ed's chest back in 2015.

Kevin - who posts on Twitter on the handle @kp_est78 and runs the Instagram page @kevinpaul666 - shared: ''Ed's not quite showing everything he's had done yet so I don't think people quite understand the full effort that's gone into it or the impact it's gonna have when they do, people have only seen glimpses of what he's had done but there's going to be a big reveal soon. It's gonna cause a bit of a commotion; some people are going to love it and some people are going to hate it.

''It's not quite finished yet, we've got to get a few more bits and bobs to do, but it's personal to him and it means a lot to him and as a tattooist it's my job to make sure he's happy, and he is. Everything Ed has had tattooed is a storyboard of his life ... We've done the whole front and a lot of these are about the album, there's a tattoo for every song on the album and some more family related stuff as well.''